Introducing new joeys

Question
QUESTION: Betty,
I currently have a male and female sugar glider that have been together for about 3 months and decided to have a baby. The joey is still in the pouch and I don't know exactly how long it been in there could be a week or two I just noticed it the other day. My issue is before I noticed it I purchased two female joey's that will be ready to come home in two weeks. Is it safe to go ahead and introduce them to my other ones or do have to wait to ensure the safety of ALL my joey's. I would really appreciate your advice.
Thank you
Krystle

ANSWER: Krystle,

I wish I could give you a definite answer to your question.  Sugar Gliders are complicated creatures and have individual personalities.  Their social structure can be quite involved, and nothing is certain.

Having three females with one male can be problematic as it is, not to mention that one of the females has joeys in the pouch.  Please go to my website and read about glider introductions.  nc.sugar.gliders.googlepages.com  

My suggestion is to go ahead with the introduction process, but do NOT leave them together unsupervised.  You should be able to tell by their reactions to each other if there are going to be problems.  Please write again when you have an idea about how they react to each other.  If the new females are young enough, it might be okay.  Ideally, the male and female will be the primary adults, and the others will take the subordinate roll in the colony.

How old are your adult gliders?  Has the female had joeys before?  How big is the joey in the pouch?  A joey about to come out is about the size of a peanut in the shell.

Please keep in touch,

Betty



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Betty,

My male is about 12-14 months old and the female is 10-12 month old, and no my female has not had joey's before this will be her first she was alone before I got her. When I introduced the male and female I put her in a cage inside of the males cage which is 6ftx4ftx3ft. I would let them out for a little bit at a time together and they would fight a little but then  I had the idea to put my male Ziggy in her cage for a night and leave her out in the big cage and after that every thing was great from then they bonded right away it took about 3-4 days total. The joey looks to be about the size of a peanut in a shell right now but I haven't seen any tail or limbs hanging out of the pouch yet. Might I ask why you say 1 male and 3 female will be a problem??

Thank you
Krystle

Answer
Thanks for the reply.  

Sugar Gliders have a very complicated social system.  Have you ever seen Meercat manor?  Gliders are pretty much the same.  There is a dominant male and his family members.  Outsiders are not well tolerated, and are sometimes attacked.  

The females compete for the favor of the male.  Too many females can lead to fights for dominance in the colony.  They might even attack the other females' joeys.  If you introduce the young ones properly, they can live together just fine.  However, I'm not sure if your mama can adjust to being a new mother and accept the young females at the same time.  Your female is not an experienced mother, and will need time to learn parenting skills.  Your best chance of having a happy, healthy joey is to wait until the joey is about four weeks OOP before introducing the new "big sisters."  Like I said before, you could try introductions and see how it goes.  Just don't leave them alone together until you are sure that the new joey can fend for itself.

Good luck.  I hope all goes well.  With Sugar Gliders, you can never be sure what will happen.  Please keep in touch!

Betty